This is among the “shot in the dark” titles off the preview list for this season, so it’s fair to say that I didn’t exactly have huge expectations for Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro.  That’s a low bar, but this premiere certainly cleared it – I found it pretty amusing for the most part, and never found myself thinking “how much longer does this go on?”.  It’s not a great start to say I went into Chio-chan thinking “does this really need to full-length?”, but it’s not a slight.  I simply looked at the premise and it really struck me as one that would work better as a short (or at least half-length).  It’s too soon to say after one episode, but it more or less carried off 22 minutes.  And perhaps more importantly, that might be the whole point – if the gag here is “how much can we milk an incredibly simple hook?”, then cutting the episodes short would undercut the premise.

Speaking of gag, that was the first moment of the part of the episode that really struck me funny – the dude brushing his teeth hacking up phlegm all over the heroine.  The best moment by far, though, was the reveal that the parking garage Chio-chan emerged from was that of a love hotel – especially with the leering guy staring at her.  Misunderstanding comedy has its limits, but it doesn’t seem as if Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro is going to take this so far as to be really mean-spirited – it seems to fall more under the slapstick vein.

The second chapter was certainly the more “serious” (term used relatively) of the two, featuring Chio-san interacting with popular classmate Hasegawa-san.  The sight gag with the “please separate your garbage” sign was a very clever projection of what was going on in Chio’s mind, and this bit reveals her to be a socially awkward and lonely kid – which makes both she and the story more interesting.  The “free pack of tissues” thing was a sort of in-joke (if you’ve spent any time in Japan – especially Tokyo – you’ll get it) and again, cleverly incisive.

I do think Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro could do without the juvenile fanservice, because it really serves no purpose apart from the puerile – it doesn’t add to the humor in any way.  I also wonder if the idea of stretching a meager premise preposterously far will collapse in on itself at some point, and we realize it really can’t sustain a full-length show.  But for now it’s all pretty effective, and the B-part suggests there may be just enough substance here to make this work.